What's Good for the Goose

The Colorado Avalanche's first meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins was one to forget. A 7-2 drubbing on March 16, definitely not one of our finest moments. Nine days after that meeting, the Avs and Penguins meet again, this time in the Steel City, and this time, Sidney Crosby was in action. So they have someone back. Well, so do we. Ross Colton returned to action for the Avs, and Logan O'Connor suited up for the very first time this season.

Scott Wedgewood was in net against Arturs Silovs, and the period was pretty even to start. Emphasis on start. Early in the frame, Nathan MacKinnon managed to breakaway and put it in the net for the 46th time this season because, well, this kid named Cole Caufield is suddenly right behind him. So the Avs strike first, but it didn't take long for the Penguins to strike back. Egor Chinakhov tied it up, and the assists came from Samuel Girard and Kris Letang. Yes, our beloved Sammy G faced off against the team he played nine seasons with for the first time, and he picked up a point. So it's 1-1, and honestly, I figured the period would end that way. I figured we wouldn't see any goal scoring mayhem like the first meeting.

Turns out, we would see mayhem, and this time, we dished it out. At 15:24, Sam Malinski gave us our lead back. We had a PP afterwards, and Martin Necas put it in. Cale Makar and Brock Nelson had the assists on the goal, which came 80 seconds after Malinski's goal. 35 seconds later, Parker Kelly scores from Logan O'Connor and Nazem Kadri. It's 4-1! Four goals in the first period. Now the Penguins know that feeling. 4-1 was the score after 20 minutes, and in the second period, Penguins had a double minor power play that was killed off. Other than that, it was quiet, except for Necas scoring his second, with Devon Toews and Malinski assisting.

Avs led 5-1 after 40 minutes. We had this. Third period was chock full of penalties. Pens had an early PP that turned into barely over a minute of 5-on-3. Matching minors followed, and then the Avs had a 5-on-3 as well. Nothing came as a result of all that madness. Penguins did get one to make themselves feel a little better. Rickard Rakell with the tally, Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust assisted. Silovs was pulled with the Penguins looking for a miracle, but all that did was allow Ross Colton to put it in the empty net.

The Avalanche won, 6-2, in Pittsburgh, and the news gets even better, folks. The Dallas Stars lost in regulation again! Amazing. After that game on March 18, the Avalanche and Stars were only separated by two points. Now? Avs have a seven point lead in the Central. The increase happened in less than a week, because while we're getting wins, the Stars are falling off. We are maintaining control of the Central, and we are getting the reinforcements back. And there's still Artturi Lehkonen left, just waiting to return!

This was our last game against an Eastern Conference opponent, as our final dozen games are conference games. Next up is a home-and-home against the Winnipeg Jets; we'll be in Winnipeg on Thursday before hosting the Jets on Saturday. After that, it's two more home games against the Flames (Monday), and against the Canucks on the day named after them: April Fools' Day.

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